A vanity table worthy of its name

Ever since I was a little girl I’ve wanted a vanity. A good and proper vanity. Something like this:

"Well, Hello darling..."

For some strange reason, vanities went out of favor (I blame the advent of the gigantic bathroom) and the dream semi-died. Until I found this:

Not bad for $15 dollars, right?

She was a terrific deal ($15) but her shapely legs could have used a respectable length skirt. I hoped to have bonus-round luck finding a suitable fabric for next-to-nothing, but months went by and I couldn’t find any fabric that fit the criteria (lots of it and cheaper than cheap). My luck finally turned a few weeks ago when I picked up two heavy silk lined curtain panels at The Salvation Army for $4. TWO 96′ long curtain panels for $4! (I practiced my casual nonchalance before walking in and when I saw them, I nearly blew my facade of cool).

WAY more than $4 worth of fabric..

When I saw how much curtain I was going to have to be cut to fit properly in my window, the light bulb went off..

I was truly pushing my good luck by attempting to get a window treatment AND a vanity skirt out of my $4 purchase. But the amount I had to cut in order to make the curtain fit the window was more than enough to cover the legs, and since I had two panels, I had one for each side of the table. I measured carefully so that my cut would be even (careful to account for the pleats) and then hemmed.

The pleats already in the curtain panel looked like a special design element exclusively for the vanity table. I used a roll of adhesive velcro to fasten the skirt to the table. The adhesive of the velcro also stuck to the fabric remarkably well, so I was able to avoid sewing it in place in case I ever wanted to change the skirt.

Sticky velcro is magic...

And…

I think Jean Harlow would feel right at home here, don't you?

This is crying for some Chanel No.5, don't you think?

What do you think? Now I just need to stop buying my fancy perfumes at Target and the grocery store and then Ms. Harlow and I will truly do this vanity justice. (I stretched every last penny out of those $4 bucks!)

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